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H E R I TA G E
A history of quarantine and the lessons learnt from the small village of Eyam in the English countryside
S
ince COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, many countries around the world imposed some form of quarantine to control its spread. What can the history of quarantine teach us about isolation and lockdowns now? Beginning as early as three thousand years ago, quarantine and isolation were employed as technologies against the proliferation of disease. As human understanding of disease transmission grew, quarantine sophistication and efficacy improved, until it became standard practice in combating epidemics. Though not always successful, quarantines delayed or contained outbreaks by removing all potential pathogen carriers from the populace. At first, lightly used against leprosy and plagues of antiquity, quarantine, as a technology, expanded rapidly in the Western world during the Black Death epidemic. Its initial success against the plague established quarantine as a standard procedure to stopping the spread of epidemics and pandemics.
The practice of quarantine, as we know it, began during the 14th Century in an effort to protect coastal cities from plague epidemics. The Bible’s Old Testament’s Book of Leviticus details how people with leprosy were effectively isolated from the rest of the community. When
the bubonic plague emerged in the 1370s, European cities also started their own quarantine system. Ships arriving in Venice from infected ports were required to sit at anchor for 40 days before they and the goods they carried, could come ashore. This practice, called quarantine,
That is, it! You just created and completed (hopefully) a very efficient and effective workout. The key is
to stay consistent and perform workouts like this three times a week (at least). Remember, you are not
only working out for yourself but to help serve your community, your crew and your family.
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Volume 6 | No 3
The Eyam Parish Church situated in the English countryside
5 FIRE AND RESCUE INTERNATIONAL | 39
